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^^^^fS^s'ion^^} HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES {"no"i478" 



SAMUEL L. GILMORE 

(Late a Representative from Louisiana) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES AND THE SENATE OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

lis. SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS 

THIRD SESSION ,1 - ' 



Proceedings in the House 
January 29, 1911 



Proceedings in the Senate 
December 6, 1910 



COMPILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 




WASHINGTON 

1911 



-2, «^ '^l -J > 






cV 



*? 



NX- 




^ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the House 5 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 6,7 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana 9 

Mr. Kahn, of California 18 

Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana 20 

Mr. Pujo, of Louisiana 23 

Mr. Borland, of Missouri 25 

Mr. Ransdell, of Louisiana 28 

Mr. Broussard, of Louisiana 31 

Proceedings in the Senate 35 



[3] 




HON. SAMUEL LOUIS GILMORE 



jlATH C 



Proce; 



Mr. Ransii 
lowing rcs.i 



111! ijMU l.*» . 



, which the Clerk will report. 
llic Clerk read as follows: 



I' 

tin: .-Lii'- 'U . 

HesolViil. 
Senate and ir )<■ r-jir r. ropy u. 

The <i s !, tis were agrc .; 

Mr. I :\<>iii«iM!i.i ^' 

lowing 

The •^TLAi 
resolution, ■ 

The Clerk r*.u ; 

Hesolic'l. Tliat as a t 
the d<'i-, 1-. .1 Senators .: 
adjoura. 

The ' 
o'clock . 
!2 o'clock II 



DEATH OF HON. SAMUEL L. GILMORE 



Proceedings in the House 

December 5, 1910. 

Mr. Ransdell of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I offer the fol- 
lowing resolutions. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana offers the 
following resolutions, which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Hesoived, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Representative from 
the State of Louisiana. 

Resolved, Ttiat the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

Mr. Ransdell of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, 1 offer the fol- 
lowing resolution. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana offers a 
resolution, which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Hesoived, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased Senators and Representatives the House do now 
adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to. Accordingly (at 12 
o'clock and 49 minutes p. m.), the House adjourned until 
12 o'clock noon to-morrow. 



[5] 



Memokial Ai)[)1(e,s.si;.s : Rei'kesentative Gilmoue 



December 6, 1910. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon. 

The Chaphun, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
following prayer : 

Almighty Father, ever ready and willing to hear the 
prayers of Thy children, we draw near to Thee, seeking 
Thy blessing that we may know Thy will and have the 
disposition and the strength to do it that we may fulfill 
the obligations of the hour. 

Be veiy near, we beseech Thee, to all who are in sorrow 
and distress everywhere. Especially be verj- near to the 
families of those who were bereft of their dear ones 
during the recess and whom we knew as Members of this 
House to love and respect. Help them and us to look 
forward with bright anticipations to that other life where 
we shall dwell together in peace and happiness forever, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

,^ „ January 13, 1911. 

Mr. Broussard. I ask for the adoption of the order 
which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana asks for 
the adoption of the order which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Ordered, That there be a session of tlie House at 1 o'clock p. m., 
Sunday, January 29, 1911, for the delivery of eulogies on the life,' 
character, and public services of the Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore,' 
late a Member of the House of Hepresentatives from Louisiana. 

The order was agreed to. 



[6] 



Proceedings in the House 



Sunday, Jaruiorij 29, 1911. 

The House met at 1 o'clock p. m., and was called to 
order by I\Ir. Broussard, as Speaker pro tempore. 

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., 
as follows: 

"Hear my cry, God; attend unto my prayer. From 
the end of the earth will I ciy unto Thee, when my heart 
is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher 
than I." 

In response to a natural impulse of the human heart, 
O God, our heavenly Father, we come to Thee in prayer 
as a fitting preparation to this memorial in honor of a 
deceased Member of this House. Though brief his career, 
it was highly commendable and promised larger possi- 
bilities, since he had served his State and Nation with 
singular ability and distinction. Cut off in the prime of 
life, we mourn him as a useful citizen, a faithful public 
servant, a Christian gentleman, a colleague, a friend, a 
husband, a father. 

Grant, O most merciful God, that his life may be a 
cherished memorial to all who knew and loved him; and 
help them to look forward to a brighter day in a fairer 
realm, to the joy of an eternal reunion. And Thine be 
the praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read the 
order of the day. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

On motion of Mr. Broussard, by unanimous consent, 
Ordered, That there be a session of the House at 1 o'clock p. m., 
Sunday, January 29, 1911, for the delivery of eulogies on the life, 
character, and public services of the Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, 
late a Member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana. 



[7] 



MeMOHIAL AlJDRliSSES : ReI'HESENTATIVE (iILMOUE 

Mr. Dl'pre. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolu- 
tions, which I send to the desk and ask to have read. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that 
opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. 
Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Member of this House from the State 
of Louisiana. 

Resolved, Tliat as a particular mark of respect to tlie memory 
of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguislicd public 
career, tlie House at the conclusion of these exercises shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerl< communicate tlicse resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, Tliat tlie Clerli send a copy of tliese resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

The Speakefi pro tempore. The question is on the adop- 
tion of the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 



[8] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana 

Mr. Speaker: The mailed hand of death has knocked 
twice at the door of the second congressional district of 
Louisiana in little more than two years. Oheying the 
final summons, on December 26, 1908, Robert Charles 
Davey, long the faithful Representative of his people 
and the well-beloved associate of his colleagues upon the 
floor of this House, started on the long trail which leads — 
who can say whither? 

Twelve months and seven days thereafter, on July 18, 
1910, his successor, Samuel Louis Gilmore, was himself 
called to undertake the same uncertain, yet inevitable, 
journey. His tenure in this body was brief, and he did 
not have the opportunity to display those qualities of 
mind and heart which would unquestionablj' have 
assured him a high rank as a lawmaker and a fixed place 
as a companion and a friend; but for nearly two decades 
he was a commanding figure in Louisiana, at its bar and 
in its political arena, and he left in the State a host of 
admiring friends, who have freely and generously testified 
in the public prints, before the courts, and in private 
intercourse to the high order of his professional ability 
and to the unusual magnetism and charm of his striking 
personality. 

One of those who knew him well, who for more than 
nine years was his assistant when he was city attorney of 
New Orleans, has all unworthily been chosen to fill his 



[9] 



Memorial Addresses: Hepuesentative Ciii.MORE 

seat among you. To-day he asks your brief indulgence 
while in mayhap halting words, but in all sincerity and 
reverence, he offers a tribute to your dead brother and to 
his personal friend and political benefactor. 

Samuel Louis Gilmore was a native Louisianian, hav- 
ing been born in New Orleans on July 30, 1859. He came 
of that gifted and versatile race which has fought suc- 
cessfully all battles but its own. His father, Thomas 
Gilmore, of north Irish birth, was a prominent member 
of the Louisiana bar, of cultured tastes and literary 
instincts. The latter tendencies were accentuated in his 
son, and he has often told me how the hours, supposedly 
devoted to preparation for school work, were spent in 
the well-stocked family library. In early youth he nur- 
tured a consuming ambition for the stage — an ambition 
rudely blasted by his father, with that strange prejudice 
against the actor which from the earliest times has per- 
sisted almost to our own daj'. But the child is father to 
the man. Swerved from liis own choice of a profession, 
all of his life he remained a close student of the great 
dramatic authors and an intelligent and analytical 
devotee of the contemporaiy stage. 

His early education was received from private instruc- 
tors, and later he was graduated from the New Orleans 
public high school. His collegiate course was completed 
at Seton Hall College, South Orange, N. J., an institution 
then and now standing high among sectarian colleges, 
where he received the degrees of bachelor and master 
of arts. 

Naturally turning, when his own preference for a pro- 
fession coukl not be realized, to that in which his father 
had gained reputation and fortune, he matriculated in 
the law department of the University of Louisiana, now 
Tulane University; was graduated therefrom, admitted 



[10] 



Address of Mr. Dupre, of Lofisiana 

to the bar of the Stale, and became, with his brother, a 
member of the firm of Thomas Gilmore & Sons. Shortlj^ 
afterwards he was married to Miss Martha Frazer Nohin, 
of an old and respected southern family, who, with a 
daughter and son, survive him. 

Mr. Gilmore first made his enti-y into public life in the 
heated State and municipal campaign of 1888, long to be 
remembered in the annals of Louisiana politics, and was 
in that year named first assistant by Hon. Carleton Hunt, 
then city attornej' and sometime a Member of this House. 
The memorable contest that shook Louisiana from turret 
to foundation stone and that ended in the abolition of the 
Louisiana State lottery coming on about this time, he 
threw himself with youtliful vigor and ardor into the 
fight against the lottery, and by 1892 had become so im- 
portant a political factor as to be named presidential 
elector by the reunited Democracy of Louisiana. Sever- 
ing his connection with the city attorney's office in that 
year, he formed a law partnership with the late John M. 
Baldwin under the name of Gilmore & Baldwin, which 
endured until the latter's death. Thereafter he con- 
tinued the practice alone, his professional abilities being 
devoted principally to the discharge of the duties of the 
public ofiice he was so soon to fill and so long to hold. 

Through the election of 1896 the administration of 
municipal affairs in the city of New Orleans was turned 
over to a reform movement known as the Citizens' 
League, and Mr. Gilmore, who was affiliated with that 
movement, was, because of his previous record as assist- 
ant city attorney and because of the high position which 
he had attained as a lawyer, chosen city attorney of New 
Orleans. From that day until his death he was a central 
figure in New Orleans politics, and consequently in the 
politics of Louisiana. In 1899 he was chosen, in a hotly 



[11] 



Memorial Addresses: Hepresentative Gilmoke 

contested primary, leader of the fourteenth ward of 
Orleans Parish and represented it in the councils of the 
Democratic Party until the day of his death. 

The ward in question forms part of the residential 
district of New Orleans; its citizcniy is especially char- 
acterized hy independence of thought and action. Those 
familiar with political conditions in New Orleans, and 
especially those who have had occasion to aspire to office 
from that political subdivision, know that to maintain 
supremacy in the fourteenth ward means continued pres- 
ence on the firing line, with a cool head, a steady aim, 
and a courageous spirit. These qualities Mr. Gilmore 
possessed in a supreme degree, and his leadership, while 
repeatedly challenged, was never successfully attacked. 
He was reelected city attorney in 1899, again in 1904, and 
had just entered on his fourth term, to which he was 
elected in 1908, when he was elevated in March, 1909, to 
the Sixty-first Congress. 

The Speaker of the House, recognizing his long experi- 
ence as the legal adviser of a great metropolitan city 
and his close familiarity with municipal problems, 
assigned him, though a new Member, to the Conunittee 
on the District of Columbia. That committee, charged as 
it is with the responsibility of initiating and recommend- 
ing legislation for the Nation's Capital, is one of the most 
important in this body. It offers scope for the best talent, 
since we all recognize that municipal government is the 
weakest link in the chain of our American institutions, 
and the aim of that committee accordingly should be to 
have the local government of Washington conducted 
along the most advanced and progressive lines, so that 
other municipalities, struggling under their own burdens, 
may seek inspiration and relief from this city's municipal 
administration. 



[12] 



A[)DHKss OF Mr. DrpRE, of Loi isiana 

Mr. GiLMORE would have proved a valuable factor in 
the civic uplift of this community had his connection with 
the District Committee endured for any length of time. 
His service in the extra session of 1909 gave him no 
opportunity in this direction. In March, 1910, he was 
stricken with illness and went to New Orleans for treat- 
ment. He never returned to Washington. His friends 
knew of the serious condition of his health, but never 
realized the fatal character of his ailment. I saw him 
last about the middle of May, and he appeared much 
improved and was himself confident of his early recovei-y. 
In June he went to Abita Springs, a resort in the famous 
ozone belt, near New Orleans. For a time he rallied, but 
only temporarily. His vitality continued to ebb until on 
July 18, 1910, the end came to him. As Matthew Arnold 
puts it: 

His cabined ample spirit 

Fluttered and failed of breath, 

To-night he doth inherit 
The vasty hall of death. 

His mortal remains rest in the historic Metairie Ceme- 
terj', in that Crescent City he loved so well. 

Mr. GiLMORE was assistant city attorney for 4 years 
and was city attorney for 14 years. His claim to be 
remembered by his people for the public services he 
rendered rests upon his record in that otFice. Using that 
record as a criterion bj' which to measure these services, 
he is entitled to grateful recognition by the people of 
New Orleans. He came to the office at a crisis in his city's 
history, when the old order was changing and a new era 
of higher civic ideals and larger material developments 
was to succeed. The general assembly of 1896 enacted a 
new charter for the city of New Orleans. It fell to him to 



[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Gilmore 

interpret the provisions of tliat charter to the executive 
and aldernianic oHicers of tlie municipality and to uphold 
and sustain his progressive and beneficial interpretations 
in the courts. This he did with signal success. His great 
abilities as a la\\'>au' and his marvelous skill as a diplomat 
were never used to better advantage than when, early in 
his term, he brought about a satisfactory adjustment of 
the garbage controversy, by which an iniquitous, medi- 
eval system of street cleaning was abrogated. He argued 
in the Supreme Court of the United States the case of 
The City of New Orleans against The Texas & Pacific 
Railroad, which had been pending in the courts for many 
years and had at each previous stage been decided ad- 
versely to the city's contentions, and secured from that 
august tribunal a decision which wrested a large por- 
tion of the river front from the monopolistic control of 
a railroad company, under a grant from a carpet-bag 
legislature. 

When the contract with the wharf lessees, who, for 
their own enrichment, had throttled the business of the 
port, expired, he was foremost in the movement to put 
our harbor facilities under public control, and to his far- 
seeing wisdom is largely due the present admirable 
system of docks and wharves that have aroused the envy 
of our competitors and the commendation of public and 
private experts in these matters. He was one of a few 
brave spirits who conceived and fostered the idea of a 
municipally owned Public Belt Railroad, spanning our 
entire river front, and in time to encircle our entire city, 
by which the self-interest of trunk railroads is held in 
check and the business of the port cheaply and expedi- 
tiously handled. Through good and ill fortune he and 
his associates clung to and fought for the Belt Railroad, 
whicii is to-day in successful and practical operation in 
New Orleans. 

[14] 



Address of Mr. Dufre, of Louisiana 

His last professional appearance was made in behalf 
of this same Public Belt Railroad when, in February', 
1910, after his election to Congress, he came to New Or- 
leans to argue, without compensation, in the supreme 
court of the State the city's side of the case of Mayor 
against Louisiana Railway & Navigation Co. The recent 
decision of the court denying that company's claim and 
further clinching the public ownership of an important 
section of our river front, rendered only two months ago, 
sustaining thoroughly Mr. Gilmore's contentions, is a 
splendid posthumous tribute to his public spirit and to 
his legal ability. 

The last 15 years have been for the city of New Orleans 
its age of renaissance. Millions of dollars have been ex- 
pended in great works and public improvements. These 
expenditures have been made under legislative authority, 
and the statutes authorizing them have all been judicially 
tested and upheld. Every one of these statutes were 
drafted, viseed, or approved by Mr. Gilmore, and were 
argued and discussed by him when they were under con- 
sideration by the Louisiana General Assembly. The acts 
of that body from 1896 to 1910 contain a lasting monu- 
ment to his remarkable grasp of municipal problems and 
to his shining ability as a lawyer. 

Whatever other differences of opinion have existed as 
to his merits, I have never heard Mr. Gilmore's legal 
abilitj' disputed or questioned. He was a man of excep- 
tional natural endowments; he had been carefully edu- 
cated along general lines and had been firnily grounded 
in the basic principles of the law. Early after his admis- 
sion to the bar he was called upon to cope with great 
private and public questions, and with advancing years 
and increasing experience and responsibilities he broad- 
ened and widened in his mental outlook until he was 



[15] 



Ml-MOrUAI. AdDRKSSLS : REPHIiSENlATIVE CilLMOKD 

able to look upon the broad horizon of a question, his 
vision unobscured by the attending mirage of technical- 
ities and unimportant details. Added to his other quali- 
fications were a persuasiveness of style, an elegance of 
diction, an ease of deliver^', a courtliness of manner, and 
an evenness of temper that greatly strengthened the 
cogency of his arguments and the logic of his conclusions. 
I should say that his most striking characteristic as a 
lawyer was a marvelous resourcefulness. An adversaiy 
rarely caught him off his guard; but if it so happened, in 
a flash he had closed his armor and had himself become 
the aggressor from some unsuspected coign of vantage. 
The case was never lost witli him until a rehearing had 
been finally denied by the highest appellate tribunal. 

Mr. Speaker, 1 knew Mr. Gilmore well. 1 enjoyed 10 
years of close personal and official intimacy with him. 
He was my friend, faithful and true. 1 loved him in the 
flesh, and 1 mourn him now as he sleeps " in that cool rest 
house down the glen." Let me bring to a close these re- 
marks by quoting from an editorial that appeared in the 
New Orleans States of July 19, 1910, from the pen of one 
who from personal association could write of his kindli- 
ness of heart and generosity of spirit. Is there one of us 
who, dying, would not hope to receive and to deserve so 
beautiful a tribute? 1 quote: 

He was a man of unusually attractive personality. He loved 
the beautiful in life. He was passionately fond of the best litera- 
ture. If there was a slirine at which he worshiped, it was that of 
intellectuality. He dcliglited in companionship and found his 
rarest pleasure in communion with spirits of like intellect. Yet 
he was democratic to the core. A southern gentleman in that best 
sense of the word, he was a Chesterfield in manners, and he made 
no distinction in his treatment of his fellow beings. The rich 
and the poor, the high and the low, the mighty and the humble, 
alike found at his hands gentle reception and chivalrous consid- 



[16] 



Address of Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana 

eration. He was not without faults. Who of us is? He made 
enemies. ^Yhat strong man ever did not? Now, however, that 
he has been cut down in the flower of his maturity, at the thresh- 
old of a new career that promised to bring him fresh honors, his 
stricken family and his host of friends will cherish only the 
radiant mentality and the lovable personality with which the 
Creator endowed him. 



[17] 



Address of Mr. Kahn, of Cai.ifornia 

Mr. Speaker: Again we have met to pay tribute to tlie 
worth of a departed colleague, and I esteem it a duty to 
lay upon the shrine of the late Samuel L. Gilmore a brief 
tribute of respect. Mr. Gilmore came to the House full of 
honors. His people time and again had shown their ap- 
preciation of his splendid ability as an attorney and his 
sterling integritj' as a citizen, until finally he was elected 
by them to membership in this House. For 13 years he 
had been the city attorney of New Orleans. In that position 
he was called upon to engage in many legal contests that 
were of vital interest to the citizens of that community. 
These contests enabled him to become thoroughlj^ famil- 
iar with all questions of municipal law. He was an ex- 
pert in that line of legal learning. It was therefore but 
natural that when he was assigned to committees in this 
House he was given a position on the Committee on the 
District of Columbia, a position for which he was pecu- 
liarly fitted by reason of his knowledge of municipal law. 
It was on that committee that I first had the pleasure of 
making his acquaintance. He immediately impressed 
one as being a gentleman of the broadest culture. He 
seemed a true type of that class upon whom no greater 
compliment can be bestowed than by referring to them 
as gentlemen of the old school. After a few moments of 
conversation with him one realized that he was a man of 
splendid literary attainments and profound learning. 
The members of the Committee on the District of Colum- 
bia, although permitted to know him but a brief period of 



[18] 



Address of Mr. Kahn, of California 



time, learned to esteem him highly. As a matter of fact, 
it is through their associations on committees that the 
Members of the House get to know each other best and to 
form the closest ties. The news of his death was a great 
shock to all of his colleagues on the District Committee. 
He was only 51 years of age when he passed away. He 
had just arrived at that period of his life when man is 
supposed to be in his prime, when man is supposed to 
have the greatest faculty for doing things. But the grim 
reaper cut down Mr. Gilmore just as he had crossed the 
threshold of the more active life. We mourn his loss, and 
it must be a satisfaction to those he left behind — those who 
bear his name — that he served his citj', his State, and his 
countrv' with marked ability and patriotic devotion, and 
that his memory is revered and honored by those who 
were permitted to know him and who learned to esteem 
and respect him. 



[19] 



Address of Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana 

Mr. Speaker: Samuel L. Gilmore departed this life, 
after a brief service in this body, at the early age of 50. 
While but a small child when the gloom of war o'erspread 
our country and but a youth during the time of that 
darker gloom and greater desolation — the period of re- 
construction, racial turbulence, and political and govern- 
mental abandon — he was able later on to use his splendid 
legal mind, his energy, and his strength of youth to help 
rearrange the disordered legal and financial structures of 
city and State into order and system to meet the new 
conditions, that they might be responsive to the spirit 
and march of material progress to which our city and 
State were just awakening when he attained his majority. 
But it is sad to reflect that, wliile many of us who helped 
to bear the brunt of both of these trj^ing ordeals are still 
active, he has sunk beneath the sod in an untimely death. 
Equipped by education, association, and in the possession 
of a splendid legal attainment to take a leading part in 
the deliberations of this honorable body, he is taken from 
us in his early service, leaving but a faint mark of what 
time and longer membership would doubtless have 
deepened into lasting impression. Indeed, it is no over- 
drawn conclusion to say that had his years of service in 
this House lengthened out until he had reached the ripe 
age of manj' of the ablest Members of this body he would 
have taken front I'ank in eloquent presentation and in 
shaping constructive legislation. 



[20] 



Address of Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana 

His education — that is, his legal education — was largely 
obtained under the direction of and in association with 
Hon. Carleton Hunt, who was one of Louisiana's bi'ightest 
legal minds; and when Mr. Hunt was city attorney 
Samuel L. Gilmore was his assistant. Afterwards, for 13 
years, Mr. Gilmore was the legal adviser of the city of 
New Orleans as its city attorney. There were many com- 
plex and varied legal questions affecting the relation of 
the city to local public utilities, railroads. Public Belt 
Railroad development, levee matters, shipping facilities, 
and regulations of the river front. These he managed to 
solve with consummate ability and greatly to the advan- 
tage of our city. Mr. Gilmore was soft of speech and 
courth' in manner, ready and eloquent in debate, and the 
Congress of the United States was an arena in which he 
would have shone. Though we lived in the same section 
of the State, and he represented in part the city of New 
Orleans, a part of which forms the most populous portion 
of my district, there were many who knew him more 
intimately than I did. 

I will quote the tributes that were paid to him at the time 
of his death by three of those who were closely associated 
with him in his work as citj' attorney. Mayor Behrman 
said: 

Occupying, as he did, the office of city attorney when I first 
assumed the duties of chief executive of New Orleans, we became 
most intimately associated. He was a man of wonderful per- 
spicacity, profoundly learned in the law, and possessed of excep- 
tionally sound judgment. A gentleman of the old school, whose 
natural culture and refinement were enhanced by his great 
intellect and excellent literary attainments, he won the admira- 
tion of everyone and held the love and esteem of his host of 
friends. His remarkable abilities were recognized at all times 
during his public career. 



[21] 



Memori.\l Addkessks: Representativ'e Gilmore 

Judge I. D. Moore said: 

He was a brilliant and able lawyer and a lovable man. 

Hon. H. Garland Dupre said : 

To know him was not only to admire his wonderful intellect 
and ability, but to love him for his admirable qualities as a man. 
His ability was generally recognized, but to thoroughly appreciate 
Mr. Gilmore we had to know him as I did. Powerful in intellect, 
gentle in heart, I deeply feel his loss. 

Mr. Speaker: 

There is no death! What seems so is transition; 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life clysian. 

Whose portal we call death. 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Pujo, of Louisiana 

Mr. Speaker: For the third time within the last two 
years the Louisiana delegation in the lower branch of 
Congress have met in sad and solemn exercises in com- 
memoration of the life and character of a worthy Repre- 
sentative of the people of our State. In the stress and 
turmoil of this complex life those not closely allied by 
ties of friendship to departed Members might be prone to 
forget their fellow service in the legislative work of this 
great countrv'. But by wise provision, founded upon the 
wisdom of human experience, it is the practice of the 
House to set aside a day upon which there shall be given 
expression of the respect in which a departed colleague 
was held and of the esteem and affection entertained 
for him. Our lamented colleague, Mr. Gilmore, served 
but a short while in this Chamber. Having been elected 
to fill an unexpired term, he became a Member after the 
formation of committees, and, although a stranger to 
congressional life, his character and attainments and 
political experience and wisdom had preceded him to 
the city of Washington. He was assigned to membership 
on the Committee on the District of Columbia, which he 
was well qualified to fill by reason of the fact that he 
had alwaj's lived in a large city and had been for many 
years city attorney for one of the greatest cosmopolitan 
centers in America. He had but little time to take the 
rank in the House to which his abilitj^ and skill as a 
lawyer and parliamentarian would no doubt have ele- 
vated him. A man of good education, grounded in the 



[23] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Gilmore 

jMinciples of his chosen profession, the hiw, and skilled 
in its most intricate branches, there is no doubt but that 
his achievements would have shed luster upon his name 
and added fame to his standing as a civilian and as a man 
versed in the science of government. 

I will not attempt to review his life in detail, which 
duty has been discharged by his successor in a far abler 
manner than if attempted by me; but I feel on this sad 
occasion that it is my privilege to contribute these few 
words in behalf of the memory of one whose acquaint- 
ance, though slight, ripened into friendship as soon as 
it was given the opportunity of being influenced by his 
nobility of character, loyalty of purpose, unsurpassed 
courtes}', and unvarying kindness. 

Mr. GiLMORE did not enjoy good health after his arrival 
in Washington, yet he was attentive to the discharge of 
his duties, agreeable and pleasant with his colleagues, 
although he no doubt knew at the time that he was 
approaching with measured and no uncertain steps the 
portals of the grave. It must surely be the supreme test 
when one is brought face to face with the knowledge that 
he will soon be called to the voiceless tomb that he mur- 
murs not at his fate, but calmly faces the future and his 
Creator. This great contentment of mind and heart must 
in the providence of God be founded upon belief in the 
resurrection. I join in tendering to his family mj^ most 
sincere sympathy in this hour of their bereavement and 
irretrievable loss. 



[24] 



Address of Mr. Borland, of Missouri 

Mr. Speaker : I am here to pay a tribute of respect to the 
memorj' of our late colleague in this body and to my late 
colleague on the Committee on the District of Columbia, 
Mr. GiLMORE. During the short time that Mr. Gilmore was 
a Member of this bodj' his service was devoted to the 
Committee on the District of Columbia, where I was asso- 
ciated with him. I believe that his previous career and 
his experience as a public man had especially fitted him 
for the great problems of municipal government. It is a 
matter of regret to his colleagues on the committee that 
he could not longer have devoted those talents to the 
work for which he seemed to be so eminently fitted. In 
the brief time that he was with us he had little opportu- 
nity to display his abilitj', so as to make felt in this Capital 
City and in the Nation the talents which he had brought 
to that work. He seemed to his fellow members of the 
committee a man of great depth of mind, and accompany- 
ing that, as is so often the case, was great frankness and 
simplicity of nature, gentleness, earnestness, and integ- 
rit}'. I suppose that during the public career, which he 
seems to have fdled with the respect and affection of his 
fellow citizens of that great southern metropolis, he had 
no opportunity to accumulate a store of this world's goods. 
It is not often that a public man, if he devotes himself ear- 
nestly and honestly to the work to which his life should 
be dedicated, can be financially rewarded. But I have no 
personal knowledge of the fact. I assume it to be .true 
that his public service was as the public service of many 
another man — a financial loss. But here in this great 
country, which has demonstrated to the world the success 
of free government among men, it has also been demon- 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Gilmori: 

strated to the world that public service can command 
from men of honor and from men of character and from 
men of ability the highest type of service, which is re- 
warded only by the esteem and respect and affection of 
their fellow men. 

Upon that principle the perpetuity of our Government 
is founded. If it were true that men would serve their 
country only when the financial reward was greater in 
that direction than in others, there could be no free gov- 
ernment. The more than a century of success of the 
American Government is founded upon one example 
after another of disinterested, self-sacrificing effort upon 
the part of public men. I undei'stand that our late col- 
league for many years served his city as its law officer, 
and bi'ought to it not only the love and affection he must 
have borne for his city, but the love and affection that 
he evidently bore to the great profession to which he 
belonged. He brought to the Nation, when he came to 
our midst, the same qualities that makes a man a good 
citizen and a useful member of the community in which 
he lives. There is no other tribute, no higher tribute, 
that can be paid to a man than that. There is no other 
reward that a man can seek than that. Men devote their 
lives to the accumulation of wealth, and, as must inevita- 
bly follow, whether from the original possessor or others, 
that wealth disseminates itself a blessing throughout the 
community. Other men devote their lives to the solving 
of the great problems of the human race, and more 
directly those efforts are stamped upon all the history of 
our country. It has been said by Sallust — 

Let man, who boasts himself so much superior to the beasts of 
the field, strive earnestly to accomplish something, that he pass 
not over life in silence, like the cattle who turn their faces to the 
ground and serve only their stomach. 



[26] 



Address of Mr. Borland, of Missouri 

II' there were no other trait or talent in man but the 
service of the economic wants of the body, men of the 
type of our late colleague could not be developed, but it 
is a type, an index, and a symbol of the divine destiny of 
the human race that it rises above the economic needs 
into the higher needs of the human soul. For a thousand 
years the English-speaking people have been struggling 
up from the abyss of feudalism to the mountain heights 
of individual liberty and free government. They have 
struggled up by the efforts and by the force of men who 
were willing to lay their lives and their talents upon the 
altar of human advancement. We can do no less on this 
occasion than to lay our tribute of respect upon the altar 
before the remains of one who has done his part to leave 
his mark upon the great and glorious historj' of his coun- 
try and of the race. 



[27] 



Address of Mr. Ransdell, of Louisiana 

Mr. Speaker: The hand of death has been very heavy 
upon Louisiana in the Halls of Congress during the last 
three years. Gen. Adolph Meyer, of the first district, was 
taken on the 8th of March, 1908; Judge Robert C. Davey, 
of the second district, on the 28th of December of the 
same j'ear; Senator Samuel D. McEnery, on the 28th of 
June, 1910; and Samuel L. Gilmore, Judge Davey's suc- 
cessor, left us to return no more on the 18th day of July, 
1910. Out of a little band of seven Representatives and 
two Senators, four of our brethren — nearlj' one-half our 
host — have gone to answer their final summons and pay 
the last debt to nature in the short space of a little more 
than two years. 

I well remember the sad occasion when we met here 
last to pay our final tribute to the memory of the well- 
beloved Bob Davey. On that occasion Mr. Gilmore, 
whom we are now mourning, was the principal speaker. 
His address was most eloquent; it was filled with beauti- 
ful thouglits, and delivered in a sonorous voice, with so 
much sweetness and grace, that it appealed strongly to all 
who heard him. That was the only time I ever heard 
him speak, but that effort stamped him as an orator of 
rare powers. 

It was not my pleasure to know Mr. Gilmore well. 
Though both of us were Louisianians born and reared, 
our homes were in widely separated parts of the State, 
and I could not say that I knew him at all until he came 
to this House. His service here was brief, and he suffered 
so much from ill health during the greater part of it that 



[28] 



Address of Mk. Ransdell, of Louisiana 

I had little opportunity to become well acquainted with 
him, while he had neither time nor occasion to impress 
upon the House the splendid qualities of mind and heart 
which made him so beloved by those who knew him best 
in his Louisiana home. 

I do not think Mr. Gilmore ever spoke in the House 
except on the occasion of the eulogies in honor of Judge 
Davey. If he did, I do not remember it. 

It was very unfortunate for him that he was cut oflf so 
early in his career here, verj' unfortunate for Louisiana; 
for, sir, if we are to judge of his career in this body, had 
he served for several years, by the successes which met 
him in his chosen profession of the law, there is no doubt 
that great honors would have come to him and most bene- 
ficial results to Louisiana and the Nation. Mr. Gilmore 
is remembered as a lawyer, and only as a lawyer, so far 
as the outside world knows of him. And the same pains- 
taking care and attention which he always gave to his 
legal business, the same studious habits, the same hard 
work, the same logical mind he ever applied in attending 
to every detail of the intricate law questions with which 
he so often and so successfully grappled would surely 
have made a great impress upon this House had he been 
given the usual term of service of the Members who leave 
an enviable record behind them. 

Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives is a mighty 
business establishment, a vast beehive with many 
branches, each closely connected with the other and so 
interlaced as to form a great comprehensive whole, ca- 
pable of producing many varied and most beneficial re- 
sults. There is no place, sir, in this House for drones or 
weaklings, but a magnificent opportunity for men of 
brain and power, men of loyalty and truth, men whose 
sole ideal is their country's good, and who at all times 



[29] 



Memorial Aodresses : Hepresentative Gilmoke 

stand for what is right. Sir, if we are to judge of Sam 
Gilmore here by what he was able to accomplish at home, 
by what he did for New Orleans and Louisiana during 
his long service as city attorney, this field would have 
proved a splendid one for him and great results would 
have come from his efforts. 

It seems very unfortunate for Mr. Gilmore, his family, 
his State, and his country that he was cut down in the 
zenith of his power on the threshold of success, when he 
had just reached the place that gave full vent to all his 
eminent abilities. But God knoweth best! Let us bow 
in humble submission to the inscrutable decrees of His 
superior wisdom. 

Mr. Estopinal assumed the chair as Speaker pro 
tempore. 



[30] 



Address of Mr. Broussard, of Louisiana 

Mr. Speaker: Samuel L. Gilmore was boi-n in the city 
of New Orleans, July 30, 1859. He was educated in the 
public schools of that city, and, after graduation from the 
Central Boys' High School, took the degree of bachelor of 
arts at Seton Hall College, South Orange, N. J., in 1877, 
and two years later the degree of master of arts at the 
same institution. Returning to New Orleans he matricu- 
lated in the law department of Tulane Universitj', from 
which institution he was graduated in 1880. 

Mr. Gilmore died on July 18, 1910, at Abita Springs, in 
Louisiana, whither he had gone in a vain effort to regain 
his health and strength. To those who were associated 
with him his death was not altogether unexpected. Dur- 
ing his short service in this House he had made several 
efforts to attend his duties; but his health was such that 
each effort resulted only in impressing his friends more 
and more that if he were expected to become a valuable 
Member he should take a much-needed rest and be given 
medical attention. 

The fact that the opportunity of displaying his remark- 
able ability in this body was denied him was a distinct 
disappointment to his numerous friends and admirers in 
Louisiana. 

For many years Mr. Gilmore practiced law in the city 
of New Orleans, commencing in 1880, shortly after his 
graduation from Tulane; first with his father, himself a 
distinguished lawj^er, after whose death he practiced his 
profession for a while alone. Subsequently, however, he 



[31] 



Memorial Audhesses: Representative Gilmore 

again entered into partnership with different la\\^'ers of 
eminence, members of the New Orleans bar. 

It was in 1888 that Congressman Gilmore occupied his 
first public position, the Hon. Carleton Hunt, then city 
attorney of New Orleans, appointing him as his assistant. 
With that peculiar talent which he always displayed, his 
earnestness, his studiousness, his assiduous application 
to his duties in his chosen profession, the late Represent- 
ative soon became noted for his thorough knowledge of 
municipal law. In 1896 he himself was elected city at- 
torney, and reelected in 1900, 1904, and 1908; and it was 
only on March 15, 1909, that he severed his connection 
with the city attorneyship, having resigned to succeed the 
late lamented Congressman Robert C. Davej', both for the 
unexpired term and the full term. In neither elections, 
either at the primary for his party's nomination or tlic 
election proper, did Mr. Gilmore meet with any opposi- 
tion. Such was the regard in which he was held by tlie 
people of the second congressional district of Louisiana. 

Prior to his election as city attoi'ney Mr. Gilmore was 
very widely known in Louisiana. In 1892 he was elected 
one of the presidential electors; in 1908 he was a dele- 
gate to the Denver convention, and as such seconded the 
nomination of William J. Bryan as the Democratic nomi- 
nee for the Presidency. 

No one could present a case more strongly, more effec- 
tively, and more thoroughly than could Mr. Gilmore. 
In his case he overlooked no point of law, and he never 
harassed any court before which he appeared by a repe- 
tition of his arguments. He was a Shakespearean scholar, 
and at one time liad prepared for the stage. Mr. Gil- 
more'.s studies in that direction, his suavity of manner, 
his fluency of language, his purity of diction, and his 
uniform courtesy to his opponents, supplemented by a 



[32] 



Address of Mr. Broissard, of Loiisiana 

thorough knowledge of the law and the facts of his case, 
always made him an interesting debater and a dangerous 
adversary. 

Apart from the distinctive loss suffered by Louisiana in 
his untimely demise, it will forever remain a matter of 
deep regret to his admirers, among whom I class myself, 
that an opportunity was not afforded him to display his 
remarkable talents on this floor. 

ADJOURNMENT 

Then, in accordance with the resolutions heretofore 
adopted (at 2 o'clock and 1 minute p. m.), the House 
adjourned until Monday, January 30, 1911, at 12 o'clock m. 



[33] 



Proceedings in the Senate 

December 6, 1910. 

Mr. Foster. Mr. President, I ask that the resolutions of 
the House of Representatives relative to the death of 
Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Member of that body, be 
laid before the Senate. 

The Vice President. The Chair lays before the Senate 
resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will 
be read: 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

In the House of Representatives, 

December 5, 1910. 
Resolved, That the House lias lieard with profound sorrow of 
the deatti of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Representative from 
the State of Louisiana. 

Resolved, That the Clerl< communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 

Mr. Foster. Mr. President, I send to the desk the follow- 
ing resolutions and ask for their immediate consideration. 

The Vice President. The resolutions submitted by the 
Senator from Louisiana will be read. 

The resolutions were read and unanimously agreed to, 
as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the 
announcement of the death of Hon. Samuel Louis Gilmore, late 
a Representative from the State of Louisiana. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives. 

[35] 



^.(p 



LB Mr '12 



